“Wine, Worship and Sacrifice: The Golden Graves of Ancient Vani”

“Wine, Worship and Sacrifice: The Golden Graves of Ancient Vani” can be viewed at the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sacker Gallery at 1050 Independence Avenue, S.W. on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. until February 24, 2008. This is the first time that archeological finds from Georgia have been brought to the U.S.

In ancient times, Georgia was called Colchis. Within Colchis, there was Vani, a town in the Imereti Region of Western Georgia. Vani was an urban center from the sixth century B.C. to the mid-first century B.C.

Golden jewelry from ancient Georgia

Cochians were renowned for their metalworking in gold, silver, iron and bronze. Cochians were also known for the production of wine and the earliest evidence of wine and winemaking can be found in Georgia.

The exhibit highlights the contents of a grave unearthed in Vani in 2004. The exhibit is quite spectacular and includes such artifacts as a magnificent Cochian gold necklace with thirty-one pendant tortoises and a spectacular bronze torso in a fifth century Greek style. Visit www.asia.si.edu for more information or call the Smithsonian at 202-633-1000.

After the exhibit leaves the Sackler, the show will be in New York from March 12 to June 1 as the inaugural exhibition at New York University’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World. The first comprehensive English publication on Vani will also accompany the New York exhibition.

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